Myrna Heisler using her spare time to meet, listen to voters

Candidate for Ramsey County Commissioner, Myrna Heisler is out on the campaign trail and doing it the old fashioned way - door to door throughout Ramsey County.

By Louise OlesonJournal Managing Editor

Candidate for Ramsey County Commissioner, Myrna Heisler is out on the campaign trail and doing it the old fashioned way - door to door throughout Ramsey County. She’s been putting in the hours and visiting with folks to help them get to know her.

“It’s been fun,” Heisler says about the hours and hours of knocking on doors and reaching out. “How else are the voters going to know who I am if they haven’t met me? And how am I going to know what’s important to them, if I don’t take the time to find out?”

That caring approach to campaigning is instinctive for the former nurse turned postal worker. She knows as one of the challengers for a position on the Ramsey County Commission she’s got her work cut out for her.

Many may know her face because for the last 22 years she has served the public as a postal worker, first as a carrier and then as a clerk at the Devils Lake Post Office helping people with their mailing needs. Not long ago Heisler was assigned to serve the Post Office in Tolna as the postmistress. She will retire from that position in January giving her ample time to dedicate to serving on the county commission should she be successful in getting elected.

“I planned it this way,” Heisler said, “because I really want something meaningful to do after I retired. I feel that as a woman I can make a difference and help bring balance to county meetings.”

“I don’t have an agenda or an axe to grind, I want to listen to the people of the county, the whole county, and find out what their issues are. I believe decisions that affect the residents of the county should be made within the meeting, through open discussion, in the public forum, not behind closed doors or between only a couple of the members of the commission.”

She sites the recent expansion of the Altru Clinic - Lake Region as something really positive for the area. “It’s like a crown on the head of the county,” she said.

“That medical facility is a sign that corporations like Altru see ours as a viable, healthy, growing community - something worth investing in.”“I believe we have an exciting, viable future ahead of us in the Lake Region. With a positive attitude and a positive mindset we can go forward and see the whole area grow and prosper,” she added.

She’s pretty familiar with all that is involved in serving on the commission because her husband, Tim, worked for them for a number of years as the county’s Emergency Manager and he also serves as a Devils Lake City Commissioner.

Heisler was born Myrna Zimmerman and raised on a farm near Penn, ND. Her early education took place first in a one-room school in Dry Lake Township, then the elementary school in Penn and then they were bussed into the big town of Devils Lake to attend Central High School in seventh grade.She is a 1971 graduate of DLHS, attended LRSC obtaining an Associate of Arts degree and later becoming an LPN. She’s been married to Tim for 40 years and they have four children, Tami, Alex, Tara and Erin.

She’s active and involved in a number of clubs and organizations but the one she says she’s most proud of is the Live, Laugh and Learn breast cancer support group of which she is one of the founding members. “That whole ordeal taught me how important community really is - to all of us,” she said.